I don't know what to say exactly about this war. As I got my stuff ready to leave, the nerves began to hit me. I was a mess. I didn't know what to expect. I've had these feelings before, but it wasn't the same. Would we win? Would the people appreciate what we were doing for them? Would there be screams? Yelling? Would they be nonchalant? Would they attack us? Would they be violent? Or retaliate? Would they try to spite us? Would they think we thought it was a charity outreach? Would they see that we were fighting for them out of love? These were the questions running through my mind. These were my worries about how the people on the streets were going to react.
There were three teams... the squads split up. One went straight, another went right and my squad went left. As we started, we tried to keep a low key profile. We snuck around stealthily picking up the scraps that were lying around everywhere. I found that we were quiet. We didn't want to make a lot of noise and disrupt the environment that we were in. The people began to take notice of us, but we were too fast for their howling and we ignored them blurting out rude comments. Our path made us turn right. We continued.
We looked around the corner and saw the battlefield. The war zone. Every where we looked there were remnants of discarded waste. We opened our bags, put our gloves on and prepared ourselves for what was about to happen. Garbage bags in our left hand and our right was ready for action. Kayla with the "bazooka" (an extended grabber). She was ready to destroy something. We got in the zone... we were ready to take on this area and become victorious. We turned the corner and began are journey. The battle had begun. We dodged people and quickly picked up as much as we could while still going forward. Like a bunch of children on caffeine pills we took to the street and picked up trash like we had never done before. Looking in crevices for the remains, down the gutters slots, or in and around trees and fences. We were being successful. We were enjoying the thrill.
We were stopped. There was garbage all around. We trotted through the trenches on our right. Picking everything we saw with the naked eye. Step by step we were conquering this land and as we looked back they looked clean. My OCD started to kick in... but my squad encouraged me to fight the urge because I was slowing them down. If we stopped this rush we would be caught and be defeated. We moved forward and took over another street.
We were getting tired by this time and we needed some energy, something to keep us going. And then all of a sudden, we were being shot at with words of positivity. The natives to this land were thanking us? Could it be that what we were doing was being well received? Love was shining through? It kept us going. Bit by bit we were heading in the direction to a tiny crowd. They encouraged us for what we were doing. They offered us lemonade and we were on our way. It didn't seem so scary anymore. The residents were nice. They were pleasant. They blessed us. We hit another street and had to decide which way to go.
As we turned right, people were talking to us from across the road. We decided at that moment that we should not be SO focussed. Get to know the locals to give more of a purpose to be here fighting this war. So we did...
We met a man named Anthony Paul Fleming. We was a man who lives on Skid Row. He graduated in Fashion design. He knows about God and Jesus, but he doesn't understand the relationship that he needs to have. He mentioned many biblical references and understood the context and what they were talking about. It was absolutely intriguing to meet someone in this type of setting. Amongst the debris of the tenants in this area during our battle. He brought up Galatians 5:25-26, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." It is a great verse to put into perspective within the homeless community. They could have been so envious and angry about what everyone else has in their life. They don't dwell on the worldly gains.
As we continued down our path we would ask people how they were doing. Their response was a simple and yet so powerful "I am blessed!" It struck the heart strings of every member in my squad. Blown away that even through these terrible times of war, they were so filled with positivity. As a group we discussed how if it was us in that position we would just complain about it all. Ha... we still do. A woman nicknamed "Baby Girl" came up to two of our soldiers (Cate and Curstin) and said that she was so thankful for what we were doing. She was shocked when she found out that we volunteered to be a part of this war. Uncle Sam didn't have to convince us or even force us into battle. We willingly showed up and wanted to fight for what we thought was a right cause. She told us about her life. She was doing well in life. She had an apartment, a job, and money and then quite quickly everything began to fall apart. The apartment fell through, the job was non-existent, which in turn made the money leave even faster. She now lives out of her car and yet knows that God will bring her out of this. She is so content with life and even though bad things occur she knows that if she depends on God, she'll overcome it all.
We moved on... and man by the name of Chris came to talk to us. He asked if we were scared to be out here fighting this battle. We were originally, but through our interactions with those that came in our path we realized there was more of a purpose. It drove us to be excited for what we have done and what we will do in the future. He asked us if Justin was our leader and we all agreed. Chris saw strength in us. He was also shocked that we were fighting for him and those in his community willingly. We weren't forced or pushed into it. We just cared enough to make the difference or at least attempt. It was an encouraging adventure. The results were better than expected and so we discussed that we would go out again and FIGHT.
This land will be conquered soon, we just need to get our energy back up until the next battle. I've learned a lot and gained so many valuable experiences in my life, but this one changed some perspective. Not because of people being blessed and them blessing us, but that there was a passion amongst our group to see change. There was a desire to start the change. We just couldn't wait... so we acted! And through the fears that we had, God took them all and helped us push passed them and start our victorious journey. A lot of contemplating about life and reasons as to why we do things... And that right there was the Battle at Skid Row. It will go down as one of the most important battles ever because it was all a part of starting the change in this world.
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